mydarling

THE MUSICAL IS BACK!

WHERE TO BEGIN WHEN TALKING ABOUT THIS ABSOLUTELY ACE CEREMONY?

I have to confess I didn't watch the Red Carpet, which is usually the only part of the whole Oscar night thing that I'm really into. But I watched both of John Stewart's monologues from when he hosted, since I wasn't sure how great of a job Hugh Jackman was going to do. I did watch the half-hour pre-ceremony Red Carpet thing on ABC, so I did get to see a lot of pretty dresses. Amy Adams was my absolute favorite; she looked absolutely stunning in that red dress! No visible misses as far as I can tell, except for Miley Cyrus. WTF was she doing there? I could understand her appearance at the Golden Globes (since the Globes don't really count), but on Film's biggest night? NO FRAKKING WAY. And that dress she wore was absolutely awful.

I totally underestimated Hugh Jackman. THAT GUY CAN SING, AND SING WELL! The opening musical number was very enjoyable. And Anne Hathaway did a better "V for Victory" sign than the actual Richard Nixon. Dad was watching it with me and he likened it to those times Billy Crystal hosted (which were absolutely hilarious, he tells me), so that's definitely a good sign. This ceremony definitely started out on the right foot, surprising us all.

Seeing Tina Fey and Steve Martin present for best screenplay was a total surprise for me, but I was enthralled to see them. Both of them are big heroes of mine. And they were absolutely hilarious together - they should do things together more often. Come to think of it, Steve Martin should host the Oscars again. He said a line that Dad and I always repeat around Oscar season: "This is the first time the Oscars are presented in HD. So to the three guys at Circuit City, hello."

I wasn't a huge fan of having five previous winners in the acting categories present the various acting awards - it took up a lot of time, and I personally think it would've been better suited to last year's ceremony, since it was the 80th and all, but I don't know if that would've happened because the ceremony was put together so last minute due to the writer's strike. But seeing Anne Hathaway tear up when Shirley McClaine called her a great actress and promised that there'd be more Oscar noms for her to come made me cry as well. Also, Michael Douglas. That guy seems to be in my life a lot these days.

THAT MUSICAL MEDLEY. I know I'm probably in the minority here, but I absolutely loved it. I love musicals, and medleys are my favorite kind of performances. Even better was the fact that I knew most of the songs, even if I didn't know what movie they were from or even that they were Oscar-nominated. The guy who edited them all together did an an excellent job - things you wouldn't think go together went incredibly well. My absolute favorite part was the very end, where Beyonce sings part of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and everyone else joins in with "Somewhere" from West Side Story. Absolutely beautiful. And that "Best Songs" medley? OMG, that was incredibly well done, considering each song gets performed individually. (Remember last year, when they reenacted the ballroom scene from Enchanted? THAT'S WHAT I WAS SECRETLY HOPING FOR.) But I did end up having "Jai Ho" stuck in my head afterward as I was trying to fall asleep.

The best part about these Oscars? For the first time EVER, I correctly predicted Best Picture (Slumdog Millionaire, obviously), Best Actor (Sean Penn, who I absolutely LOVE because he's a total badass but deep down truly a sweetheart) and Kate Winslet (which was a total last-minute pick for me, since I couldn't decide between her and Angelina Jolie). Overall, I got 71% of my picks right - the highest percentage I've gotten when making picks on the Oscars, Emmys or SAGs. Had I correctly picked Penelope for Best Supporting Actress (I picked Amy Adams because she's wonderful, but I secretly knew Penelope would actually win), I would've won the Oscar Derby in the newspaper and had a chance to win $1000! But I'm thrilled at how well it went and how much it defied my expectations. In a word: WONDERFUL!

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